Name: First Chicago-area farmers market opens under new coronavirus rules with 2-block-long lines
Brand: chicagotribune.com
SKU: chicagotribune-com-82
Availability: OnlineOnly

critic

First Chicago-area farmers market opens under new coronavirus rules with 2-block-long lines

preview

AdvertisementBy Chicago TribuneMay 03, 2020 at 11:36 amThe day after protesters rallied against Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s stay-at-home order, on the weekend Smithfield reopened a hog slaughterhouse in Monmouth following a White House executive order, the first Chicago-area farmers market opened quietly for the season under new coronavirus rules.The downtown Evanston farmers market kicked off the outdoor season Saturday with a two-block line around the market and some rural vendors scared about coming into the city.Advertisement“The line was two blocks long because everybody was social distancing,” said Myra Gorman, market manager. “I asked people who were in line, and it only took them 12 minutes to get in.”The line ebbed and flowed, at times disappearing at the market, which was open from 7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., under 75-degree sunny, blue skies. Palatine also launched its farmers market Saturday.Advertisement“We had almost 2,300 people come,” said Gorman. “The weather was beautiful. People were patient and followed the rules. They were just so happy to be out of their houses and back at the market.”Even with familiar sightings of spiky green leeks poking out of wrinkled canvas totes, the . Gorman was stationed at the entrance and exit tent doing the clicker count to manage how many people came in.“Occasionally I had to shoo away people who came without a face mask,” she said.The city of Evanston requires face coverings on all people working in or patronizing essential businesses, superseding the . Farmers markets have been declared essential businesses by state order. The city of Evanston market tent sold face masks for $2 each.“Some people did buy the masks and other people looked at me and walked away,” said Gorman.AdvertisementAbout 105 people maximum at a time, an average of three customers for each of the 35 vendors in the main square, were allowed into the market. White pop-up tents ringed the square, with a counterclockwise flow encouraged. If you forget the spinach, or want to comparison shop for scallions, you can circle back, but just keep moving. More vendors will be added to the middle as the season progresses. Three more vendors, with high-volume preorders, could be found with plants, bread and organic produce outside the main square.Market managers from Ravinia, Winnetka, Oak Park and Chicago also visited, taking pictures and talking to some of the vendors, “seeing how they felt about the new ways that we were doing things,” said Gorman.“We did have to manage some of the vendor lines, because they got to be pretty long,” she added. “It took a lot longer to shop at each vendor.”The first rule of the new farmers market: Don’t touch the food.“We had to run the whole market deli-style rather than like a self-serve produce department,” said Todd Nichols, manager and second-generation owner of Nichols Farm &amp; Orchard in Marengo. The family farm grows fruits and vegetables, often featured on restaurant menus around Chicago. “The clientele wasn’t allowed to touch the product at the market until purchase so we took orders, bagged and sent it on its way. It really makes you appreciate how much labor people contribute by bagging their own produce.”While Nichols is used to starting market days at 2:30 a.m., and managing five markets on Saturdays at the height of the season for 14-hour days, the first market under the new rules left him exhausted.Advertisement“I had four people working with me, and normally that’s enough to handle that level of traffic,” he said. “It worked pretty well, but I could’ve easily had six or more to keep it moving well.”Nichols had spinach, scallions, lettuce, and a lot of crops out of the greenhouse, including some tomatoes and plants. “A relatively very small number of crops compared to what we have mid-season,” he said. “We sold everything we had. It was more than average, but it was harder work than average.”He was not one of the vendors scared about coming into the city.“We have people in the city almost every day,” said Nichols. “We had four trucks out delivering and the market. We’re doing a lot of home deliveries, which has been booming for us. It’s good filler for all that we’ve lost in our restaurant sales. We’ll deliver anywhere.”Despite the boom, he’s not giving up the grueling farmers markets.“Markets are really important for us,” said Nichols. “They’re a big interaction with the public. One thing I could say about today was that it was less interactive than ever. I have clientele at the market that I’ve known my entire life, and I had to be short with them.Advertisement“We were hospitable, but I’m sure that it felt less than cozy to some people, because it was so important to keep moving along,” he said.“We try to market in multiple directions, and that’s key to our survival,” said Nichols. “If we were a contracted grower to one food service company, we’d be plowing under our crops and really be in trouble. Having the flexibility of direct marketing, , has been huge in the last month. And CSAs are really quite big this year, more than ever.” (CSAs, community supported agriculture, are subscriptions to a farmers harvest, usually weekly.)“We’ve lost at least a dozen markets in May,” he said. “We bought three trucks and fully embraced the fact that home delivery is a big thing. COVID pushed me to make me embrace more online sales and virtual farmers markets. There’s nothing wrong with that. You’re still supporting local farms.”One of the newest vendors at the market is not a farmer, but no stranger to the city, or overcoming heartbreaking challenges.“We’re a barbecue company,” said Heather Bublick co-owner of Soul &amp; Smoke in Evanston, with chef and husband D’Andre Carter. “We’ve primarily been catering, but we’ve become a virtual restaurant lately.”One of the other new rules at farmers markets: no cooking or eating on site.Advertisement“We were going to do cooked-to-order brisket hashes and egg dishes, more brunchy fare,” said Bublick. “Now we’re doing preorder pickups with pulled pork, brisket and ribs. With the produce you get at the farmers market, you can go home and have lunch.”The couple only had four , on the first day. “It’s OK,” said Bublick laughing. “I know it was hard for people to figure things out. They didn’t know they had to preorder, and not just walk up.”Soul &amp; Smoke, and the couple’s catering company, Feast &amp; Imbibe, have been busy, however. “We started our community meal program right out of the gate,” said Bublick. Since March 16, they’ve served over 5,000 meals to the community. “The majority of our list is comprised of families from (Evanston and Skokie School) District 65 from lists the school social workers send to us. We’ve been delivering meals to them. We partnered with World Central Kitchen and The Trotter Project to feed Englewood and a lot of area hospitals.“We provide meals almost every day to Evanston Hospital,” she said. “To the emergency department, ICU and respiratory.“We’ve sent the NICU a bunch too,” said Bublick. “They call it the ISCU, Infant Special Care Unit.”AdvertisementThe couple and their toddler daughter Max spent weeks in the unit with their infant son at the beginning of the year. “He was 7 weeks old when he got sick,” said his mother. “He was 9 weeks when we left the hospital.” Avery Carter died Jan. 21.“I felt the coronavirus was like a personal attack,” said Bublick. “I had about a week where I had a complete breakdown.”Soul &amp; Smoke plans to be at the market next week and all season.“I really hope that people feel it’s a safe place they can go to support local farmers and small businesses instead of big giant companies,” said Bublick.Downtown Evanston Farmers Market; Oak Avenue and University Place, Evanston; 847-448-8045, Nichols Farm &amp; Orchard; 2602 Hawthorn Road, Marengo; 815-236-1615; AdvertisementSoul &amp; Smoke; 1601 Payne St., Evanston; 847-491-9744; This article has been changed to remove a characterization that protesters against the governor’s stay-at-home policy were Illinois Nazis. Advertisement

AdvertisementBy Chicago TribuneMay 03, 2020 at 11:36 amThe day after protesters rallied against Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s stay-at-home order, on the weekend Smithfield reopened a hog slaughterhouse in Monmouth following a White House executive order, the first Chicago-area farmers market opened quietly for the season under new coronavirus rules.The downtown Evanston farmers market kicked off the outdoor season Saturday with a two-block line around the market and some rural vendors scared about coming into the city.Advertisement“The line was two blocks long because everybody was social...

public

Louisa Chu

The Chicago Tribune is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television are named), it remains the most-read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region. It had the 6th highest circulation for American newspapers in 2017.

First Chicago-area farmers market opens under new coronavirus rules with 2-block-long lines

No article scores yet.

CRITIC REVIEWS

PUBLIC REVIEWS